- fireplaces... I am pretty sure I have never seen a fireplace in a German restaurant or bar (fire code maybe?). Maybe in a hotel lobby in the mountains. Let's say 0.01% of places have one, who would think it makes sense to now ask this for every place? Please remove that...
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And I mark those questions every **####** time as not appropriate for my country... does anyone even look at that?
Using three words (approx 25 letters) I had a look at Berlin.
Google found a list of the 10 best restaurants in Berlin with a fireplace. Berlin isn't in the Alps.
Turning to Google again I turned up an estimate of 4,650 restaurants in Berlin. Even if the "Top 10" list is also an "Only 10" list that is 2150% higher than your "let's say" figure.
I am increasingly convinced that the question should be asked.
@PeterGO true, I did not Google. I now did in Frankfurt and I found about 5 (not top 10 list... All of them). 2 only open in winter months. I still say this is a ridiculous small number. By that logic, we should also be asked about aquariums in restaurants, historic pinball machines, at seat massage service and waiters you can order in Esperanto.
If a fireplace is the thing of a restaurant, it will show in the reviews and thus will be found by a search on Google.
@PeterGO true, I did not Google. I now did in Frankfurt and I found about 5 (not top 10 list... All of them). 2 only open in winter months. I still say this is a ridiculous small number. By that logic, we should also be asked about aquariums in restaurants, historic pinball machines, at seat massage service and waiters you can order in Esperanto.
I think that leads to a question that could be usefully asked.
I think there is a significant interest in restaurants that have fireplaces - I reckon as a Local Guide our function is to provide accurate data even if we do not understand the interest.
But is there a significant interest in another facility in restaurants and the data isn't currently collected? Something more likely than ordering in Esperanto 😉
1) Must category: Majority of people are interested in them. Examples are credit card and debit card, wifi (especially for travelers w/o local SIM), child menu (we probably all will have one some day), etc
2) Local stuff: In my current location, I don't see anything necessary. An example would be BYOB in Australia (I have heard that is a thing in Australia whether or not that is true, just an example).
3) Not needed. Yes, that will be the majority. Fireplace is one such thing (unless we talk about Iceland where maybe 90% or restaurants have them and people ask for them - add it to local stuff). Ordering in Esperanto is another thing 🙂 Or do they offer silk towels in the bathroom. For all those, let's call them really rare requirements, just Google it. You did it. You googled fireplace restaurant Berlin. Boom... done... What I do not want to see is 500 questions for every place. You may now say well, then only answer the first 5. That in turn means, if you see a place that has all the info answered but you are not sure if they offer silk towels, you can never be sure. Have they answered those extended 500 questions or do they not offer that?
What I am saying is, keep the questions to a minimum. Don't clutter it because somebody loves silk towels. At the end, you have 500 questions and that makes it unusable. I for one would answer exactly one question to get a point and then pffft...
It seems to me that getting into the question of whether each establishment is fully compliant with building codes and other laws should be beyond the purview of Local Guides unless we happen to notice something obvious. Otherwise we are duplicating the work of our city building inspectors and law enforcement. For the purposes of these questions, could we not make it our default assumption that businesses are operating legally?
Just for clarification, does Google ask you if the place has a restroom or does the app ask if the place has a "unisex restroom"? I only remember being ever asked if a place has a unisex restroom. Yesterday, for the first time, I ate in a restaurant in Spain with a fireplace. Guess what, the ONE question never showed up when answering questions, LOL. I was sooo disapointed.
When I originally posted, the question was just about restrooms; now, yes, for whatever reason, visitors to Google's reviews are only interested in finding out if a pub, restaurant or shopping mall has a unisex toilet.
And not something useful, like "Does this place have baby-changing facilities?" or "Does this place have a wheelchair-accessible toilet?" 😉
Just for clarification, does Google ask you if the place has a restroom or does the app ask if the place has a "unisex restroom"? I only remember being ever asked if a place has a unisex restroom. Yesterday, for the first time, I ate in a restaurant in Spain with a fireplace. Guess what, the ONE question never showed up when answering questions, LOL. I was sooo disapointed.
Personally I think that the unisex question is both a cultural thing and what I understand after asking my friends, more an issue for the ladies.
In some countries where they are used to walking around naked in mixed saunas, people would probably raise an eyebrow if you had an issue with unisex toilets. I travel a lot with a campervan and spend many months per year on campsites. In France it is very common to even have unisex toilet- and shower facilities, including the urinors hanging from the wall without any privacy. Many times I see ladies walking in, leaving whilst thinking they accidentally entered the gents' to come back insecure realizing these are the toilets for everyone.
However, you are right this "Do you know this place" feature remains underdeveloped and often "I vote with my feet", as in not bother answering them as they can be such a time-waster.
@JeroenM The unisex bathroom is a thing now in the US. You may have heard the issues with the LGBT community. Some are strict to separate based what is on your birth certificate, others offer flat out unisex and others are separated based on what your desired identity is. I understand that. But, in Europe just go to the one you identify with. In Germany I have never seen unisex, they are always separate (by law I think) but either or, it is not a big issue here like it is in the States. Total time waste to ask that here.
Thank you for response. Yes, I am aware of discussions related to gender neutral toilets, but I disagree with you that this is the raison d 'etre of (all) unisex toilets. In addition, you are forgetting about many females preferring gender segregated facilities.
In the Netherlands and Spain the choice is (was?) mostly dependent on the building. A small establishment might have only room for a single public toilet. The moment they have space for a second toilet, they segregate the sexes. Those establishments that have room for a disabled toilet add one and mostly make this a unisex toilet for practical reasons, because they don't have the room to create two disabled toilets.
You are right though that the relatively new awareness as a result of advocacy by the LGBT community has chanced the perspective in certain places around the world on the need for gender neutral toilets. Now public places, including schools, purposelessly have all gender toilets. What I find interesting, is how the political debate, the advocacy and the attention given to the subject in the media, has now apparently changed the meaning of the word 'unisex' to some people and in certain geographical regions.
Last week, I came across a post by a Local Guide who said that the unisex toilet question is not applicable in his country, because in his country the LGBT community is not accepted by society. I had issues with this statement, because of the implied suggestion that unisex toilets only exist for the benefit of transgender people. Turning it around, most of my female friends and female family members, value sex segregation, because they feel safer and cleaner in female only toilet facilities.
By my understanding, the issue is not so much about those toilet situations where you walk in a door and have a single toilet with a small sink, but the larger facilities where there are multiple stalls and a sinks and thus one is more likely to be confronted with other users.
As a case study for Google though, it shows us how we must constantly be aware of cultural differences, including different perspectives. Why?
When I was asked by Google Maps is there a unisex toilet, I always answered "No" as soon as there was gender segregation. So that those females valuing this, know. Even if their was a unisex disabled toilet, I would still have answered "No" to this Maps question.
Looking at it from the transgender perspective, I probably should have answered "Yes" as soon as there was a unisex disabled toilet in addition to the segregated facilities. Because of this ambiguity it becomes clear again that Google should have a little info button with each question to clarify the intend.
In a different thread, we talked about the Google Maps question related to selling bulk items. Again a very ambiguous one, as the definition or intend of the questions is not clear. I could say, yes my supermarket sells bulk items, where the only items they sell in bulk are toilet roles and paper kitchen towels. I doubt though, that this is what they are trying to ask.
2022
